In defeat, Oilers’ Connor McDavid wins Conn Smythe Trophy

SUNRISE, Fla. — Connor McDavid gained a trophy in Sport 7 towards the Florida Panthers. Simply not the one he needed to win.

The Edmonton Oilers have been defeated by the Florida Panthers 2-1 to finish their miraculous comeback within the Stanley Cup Closing, having pressured a Sport 7 after trailing 3-0 within the sequence — solely the third crew in NHL historical past to perform that feat. In main that comeback, and having a record-breaking postseason, McDavid was introduced because the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as probably the most precious participant within the 2024 postseason.

McDavid is the sixth participant in NHL historical past to win the Conn Smythe from crew that misplaced within the Stanley Cup Closing. He is solely the second skater after Reggie Leach of the Philadelphia Flyers, who was named MVP in 1976. The opposite winners have been all goaltenders who misplaced within the Closing: Jean-Sebastien Giguere of Anaheim in 2003, Ron Hextall of Philadelphia in 1987, Glenn Corridor of St. Louis in 1968 and Roger Crozier of Detroit in 1966.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman introduced McDavid because the Conn Smythe winner, with the trophy positioned atop a podium on the ice. There it stayed as Panthers followers booed the choice. McDavid had left for the Edmonton dressing room and didn’t reemerge to simply accept the award.

After the sport, because the Panthers’ ongoing Cup celebration may very well be heard within the distance, a despondent McDavid briefly acknowledged the achievement.

“Yeah, clearly, I assume it is an honor. With the names on that trophy. However … yeah,” he mentioned.

McDavid earned the Conn Smythe due to one of the crucial dominant runs by a person participant in NHL playoff historical past.

His 42 factors are the fourth most in a single postseason in NHL historical past behind solely Wayne Gretzky (47 in 1985 and 43 in 1988) and Mario Lemieux (44 in 1991), who each gained the Conn Smythe in these seasons. His 11 factors within the Stanley Cup Closing have been two factors shy of tying the Stanley Cup Closing document held by Wayne Gretzky with 13 in 1988. He posted back-to-back four-point video games within the Closing, the primary participant in NHL historical past to take action, in rallying the Oilers.

However the crowning achievement of his postseason run was shattering Wayne Gretzky’s document for assists in a single postseason (31 in 1988) with 34 helpers in 24 video games.

“He is the best participant to ever play, in my books,” mentioned his teammate and buddy Leon Draisaitl after Sport 7. “So many issues that lots of people do not see that he does. His work ethic. He singlehandedly turned our franchise round, just about. Simply love sharing the ice with him. He is only a actually, actually particular individual.”

Draisaitl was requested about McDavid profitable the MVP award in a dropping effort.

“I do not suppose he cares,” Draisaitl mentioned. “I imply, it speaks to how wonderful of a hockey participant he’s. There isn’t any participant on the earth that desires to win a Stanley Cup greater than him. He does every thing proper, each single day, simply to win it sooner or later. It is actually exhausting with him being unhappy and being disillusioned on the finish.”

McDavid’s MVP efficiency stretches again to the common season, the place he led the Oilers again from an atrocious first 12 video games (2-9-1) to rally for a playoff berth.

“Happy with the best way we fought all yr. Behind the eight ball nearly instantly. We fought an uphill climb for months and months and months,” McDavid mentioned. “[This] simply … sucks.”

McDavid went from 10 factors in his first 11 video games to 122 factors in his subsequent 65 video games.

“You concentrate on the yr that Connor had: 100 assists, main our crew, the efficiency he had on this playoffs, particularly on this closing spherical, once we’re down three video games to zero after which he comes out with eight factors in two video games,” mentioned Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch, who additionally coached McDavid with the Erie Otters in junior hockey.

“Yeah, he is our chief. He is our greatest participant. Clearly everyone needed to win it for the crew and we would wish to clearly do it [for] him, the captain of our crew,” Knoblauch mentioned. “I can not say sufficient issues about what he gives: the management and what he does on the ice.”

McDavid had a irritating finish to his postseason, with no factors within the final two video games of the Stanley Cup Closing.

The Oilers captain praised the Panthers for the best way they performed in Sport 7.

“We knew it was going to be an actual tight recreation and it was going to return down to at least one factor right here and there. We’re an inch away from going forward 2-1 proper earlier than they go forward 2-1,” he mentioned, referencing a bouncing puck that the Panthers cleared from their crease earlier than Sam Reinhart scored the sport winner within the second interval. “They did a very good job of shutting issues down. We had our seems to be. We simply did not discover it.”

This was the farthest McDavid has ever superior within the Stanley Cup playoffs, having established a “Cup or bust” mentality for his crew earlier than the season.

In 9 seasons, McDavid has captured 5 scoring titles, one goal-scoring title, three Hart Trophy wins as league MVP and the NHLPA’s participant of the yr 4 occasions. Now, he provides the Conn Smythe Trophy to that assortment.

However not the Stanley Cup.

“We by no means stopped believing. We actually believed we have been going to get one. A number of seems to be. It simply did not go,” McDavid mentioned. “It sucks. … It sucks.”